The world was crumbling, the sounds of explosions were palpable, blood and mangled corpses littered the streets, and at the center of it all, a small child no older than 8 was crying over the body of his dead mother.

“Slava, Slava… SLAVA!”

Amongst all the chaos a young girl was rushing towards him, screaming his name. Seeing the fruitlessness of her effort, she accelerated her pace, almost stumbling over the corpse of a dying soldier. When she finally reached him she tripped, falling over him, but even then, the child kept crying paying no heed to his surroundings. “You can’t be serious! Slava! Snap out of it, we have to go!” said the young girl while recovering.

She shook him a couple of times before turning his head, forcing his dull blue eyes to cross hers. “Listen to me Slava, I’ve found where the Americans are hiding! If we follow them we might have…” She suddenly halted her words. Her expression shifted completely as her green eyes glowed. Her brother wasn’t listening to her at all.

Even though he was looking at her, his gaze was empty. Instinctively, as soon as she had stopped talking, the boy’s tearful gaze dropped back to the unmoving body. “Mama will wake up, right? I just have to wait a little longer, then we’ll…” The brother’s mumbling was abruptly interrupted by the sound of his sister’s palm striking his cheek. When he recovered, the whole scenery had changed to that of a desolate foggy street.

“Slava look! That’s them!” said a familiar voice. “Listen to me, I have to go talk to them for a bit. Stay here and don’t go anywhere. I will come back. It shouldn’t take long. Okay?” Following the source of the voice, he met the gaze of his sister who was kneeling down, firmly grasping his small hand.

He nodded while his sister helped him comfortably lean against a wall. He was using all of his remaining strength to grip her hand and when she finally pulled away from him he almost fell. “Wait for me,” she said before disappearing from his sight.

“You see? Akasha didn’t need you” “If she had left you, she would’ve been fine!” A multitude of voices started to speak around him. He tried to move his head, but he was paralyzed. No matter what he did, he couldn’t move at all. Sweat dripped down his forehead while his eyes, full of fear, hastily scanned his surroundings. “She sacrificed everything for you and what did you do?” said a voice; “She died because of you!” another one chimed in. “NO!” he thought, “It wasn’t him! She… she…” The voices grew and with them, shadows started moving around him. “It’s all your fault Slava! All your fault! All your fault!” they said in unison. “Slava, Slava, SLAVA!” the voices slowly melded into one that he could recognize.

“Slava, are you alright?” his sister said in a concerned tone. Finally blinking for the first time in a while, he witnessed his worried sister gently shaking him from side to side. Tilting his head, he smiled and nodded. “Ok then, follow me, we’ll be able to leave this horrid place!” she said while propping him up. "Akasha, I don't feel so good…" Standing up, he could feel his knees buckling. He couldn't feel his toes and when he tried to take after his sister, he completely collapsed.

"Slava, this isn't the time! C'mon! Stand up!" she said hurriedly. "I…" gulping, he pressed his palms against the cold hard ground. Although he was exerting every single ounce of his strength, his visibly shaky arms struggled to support him. No matter how much he commanded, his body wouldn't listen. His vision was getting more and more blurry.

"Alright hang in there little star." Slava still had his arms slightly extended in front of him, but when he heard his sister's voice, he instinctively hugged her neck. His sister was always strong and reliable. Papa and mama always said she seemed older than she was. She would make it all work out. She was way taller than him and her back was extremely warm. Maybe it was because of his condition, but it felt like he saw it glow. The soft light and the pleasant warmth made his limbs go numb, leading him to slowly close his eyes.

What happened next was a blur. The delicate smile of his sister through his tearful gaze. A glimpse of her skin cracking like porcelain. The feeling of wind brushing against his skin. The sound of thunder rumbling in his ears. The sight of an enormous wave on its way to engulf him. Every time he blinked the scenery changed.

His senses were overwhelmed. He would see voices and hear light. Everything was spinning until a single figure appeared before him. As he calmed down, his eyes focused and his vision cleared up. In front of him stood his sister, looking forwards, she was getting ready to unsheath her katana when she glanced back with her glimmering green eyes.

“Don’t worry little star Akasha’s here” she said in a gentle yet confident voice. “Your sister will protect you.”

Not knowing what to do, he just stared as she faced the upcoming wave of debris. Her long scarlet ponytail was now fluttering in the wind. Seeing the wave about to crash he reflexively closed his eyes.

Once he opened them back up, he was confronted with disaster, his sister at its center. She stood there, unmoving. In the blink of an eye, she had slashed the wave in half. The cloudy sky was split, letting the light of dawn illuminate her figure.

Stupefied, Slava slowly moved his eyes from her now freed silky long hair to her hip where the sword used to be. The once majestic weapon was now in a sorry state with cracks spreading all over its surface. They spread from its tip to her hand, tearing her clothes, all the way to her shoulder.

Slava witnessed as bright light began escaping the weapon, fissuring it more and more until it shattered forcing him to squint his eyes and changing the scene once more. Akasha was now kneeling a bit further away.

Looking at her now, his sister's skin was cracked all over. Standing up, she said; "It's all right Slava, everything will be… all… right." Her smile was bright but her cracked face and heavy eyes betrayed her expression. She walked towards him slowly but surely. Behind her, electric arcs were constantly pulsing. With her every step, a piece of her broke off. First her nail, then her finger, a piece of her cheek…

"Sis… ter?" he heard himself say with a trembling voice.

"Shh. It's ok little star, no need for tears. Stay right there." she said, holding her mostly faded hand to her mouth.

"Bbbut…" His vision was growing dark and blurry. "Tsk Tsk, you're a smart child Slava. Even if you're confused you still understand. So don't look back ok? Strive forward, you'll achieve great things." Her voice was getting weaker but the tenderness didn't fade.

"O…" his answer was cut off by a distorted sound. Surprised, he closed his eyes. When he reopened them he was greeted with his sister's hand reaching back, penetrating a man's chest.

"You… how…" said the man. "This is impossible, you used me? You…" Before he could finish his sentence Akasha twisted her arm making him groan in pain. With the groan as a signal, his back lit up.

"This…" with these last words, lightning started escaping from his orifices. His body rapidly aged, degenerating into a charred corpse.

"Remember what I told you, Vyacheslav Vladimirovich. I…" her voice was slowly fading. Not letting go of the man, she used her other hand to grasp the air in front of her brother before twisting it.

"...love…"

Understanding what was about to happen, Slava started screaming. But before he could move a beam of light engulfed him and he was forced to watch as his sister crumbled into nothing.

"...you…"

With the light blinding him, he was forced to close his eyes. When he did, darkness overcame him.

"It was you… You were the reason why she died. It was you Vyacheslav!' said an inconspicuous voice. "Nnnn…" he couldn't answer, words wouldn't come out of his mouth. Soon enough others joined in. "She was so strong, you were her weakness… if you had died with your parents she would've survived… Vyacheslav, she died because she was protecting you!" Although he couldn't see a thing, Vyacheslav could feel the stares. The voices staring him down, judging him, cursing him, blaming him. He wanted to yell, struggle, fight back, but he couldn't move.

"It's your fault Vyacheslav! You have to pay for your sins!" they screamed. And in this chaos, he thought of the only person he could always rely on.

“Akasha… Akasha… Akash…”

“Ah!” With a scream, he woke up in a cold sweat.

“Damit! This shit again?” he thought. This wasn’t the first time he had this nightmare.

Slowly sitting up, he moved his hand to his face. Rubbing his eyes, he was greeted by a robotic voice:

“It is 9 AM! Good morning Vich, high levels of cortisol were detected in your bloodstream. ‘Wake-up protocol’ was initiated. An appointment was scheduled for a diagnosis. Some events were recorded while you were resting…” It was feminine, it managed to sound human even though Vyacheslav knew it wasn’t.

“Stop! Cancel the appointment!” he said firmly.

Brushing his disheveled blond hair away from his face, he stood up not bothering to cover his naked body. His roommate appeared to have already left for class, it seemed like he wouldn’t be distracted. Walking to his desk, he sat down. When he approached, the table lit up to reveal the rough sketch of a katana-wielding woman gazing at the rising sun.

The fact that he had just woken up didn't seem to bother him in the slightest. Entranced, he was quickly absorbed by the curved screen in front of him. The screen curved almost 180° and while it did display an image, it also projected an odd twisting object accompanied by rows of floating formulas. Behind all of these projections, on the background of this screen the date was displayed:

[Thursday, October 20th, 2142]